The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made history Wednesday.
As reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Bucs became the first team in NFL history to hire two female assistant coaches.
The team added Maral Javadifar as its assistant strength and conditioning coach and Lori Locust as its assistant defensive line coach. Both women are the first full-time female coaches in the franchise’s history.
Locust was the defensive line coach for the AAF’s Birmingham Iron this spring and was a defensive coaching intern for the Baltimore Ravens during training camp last year.
Javadifar worked most recently as a physical therapist at Avant Physical Therapy in Seattle. In 2018 she completed her Sports Physical Therapy Residency at Virginia Commonwealth.
Earlier this month Arians told NFL Insider Melissa Jacobs that he planned on creating full-time coaching positions for women, saying the pool of female coaches was wide enough to choose from. Additionally, Arians wanted to create diversity within his coaching staff.
Hiring female coaches is nothing new for head coach Bruce Arians.
Arians as coach of the Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter as the first female coach back in 2015 as an intern assistant inside linebackers coach.
Saying at the time of the Welter hire,
“I think it’s time. I am not afraid to step out and be different. Jen is a quality coach. She has earned this. I think she can help our players get better.”
The Bucs under Arians continue to build one of the most diverse coaching staffs in all of the NFL.
Arians top four assistants, Harold Goodwin (Assistant HC), Todd Bowles (Defensive Coordinator), Byron Leftwich (Offensive Coordinator), and Keith Armstrong (Special Teams Coordinator), are all African-American.
In fact 11 of Arians’s assistant coaches are African-American, making the Bucs staff one of the NFL’s most diverse. That diversity underscores Arians’ commitment to creating and building coaching pipelines of color and for women as well.
Arians said of the hiring of his two female assistants,
“I know how hard it can be to get that first opportunity to coach at the highest level of professional football. Sometimes, all you need is the right organization to offer up the opportunity. The Glazer family and our general manager, Jason Licht, were extremely supportive of my decision, and I know Maral and Lori will be great additions to my coaching staff.”
And,
“I have known Lori going back to my days at Temple University and I’ve seen firsthand just how knowledgeable and passionate she is about this game. I was equally impressed with Maral’s background in performance training and physical therapy and I know she will be a valuable asset to our strength and conditioning program.”
Both women are qualified and capable to coach and assist at football’s highest level, and Arians is one of the game’s most experienced coaches so his hiring of Locust and Javadifar shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Here’s to hoping that both women are successful as they continue to blaze new trails in the NFL.